Chapter 4

ELARA VANCE POV:

Lucian wasn't finished building his fortress of lies. To make his rejection of me seem not just necessary but noble, he went before the Council of Elders the next day. He told them Seraphina was already carrying his heir.

He painted himself as a man bound by duty, forced to choose his unborn child-the future of the pack's lineage-over a mere infatuation with an Omega. It was a brilliant, disgusting move, preying on the pack's deep-seated reverence for bloodlines and succession.

I told him I was leaving. I would rather be a Rogue, a lone wolf surviving in the harsh wilderness, than remain in a pack that had so utterly betrayed me.

His face changed in an instant. The pleading politician vanished, replaced by the tyrant. He grabbed my arm, his fingers digging into my flesh like steel bands.

"No," he snarled, and the Alpha's Command pulsed from him, a wave of power that rooted my feet to the floor. "You are not going anywhere."

His eyes burned with a dark, possessive fire. "Even if I rejected you," he hissed, his face close to mine, "your soul will always bear my mark. You belong to this pack. You belong to me."

He didn't want me, but he would never let me go. I was to be his possession, locked away and forgotten.

The next morning, the final humiliation began. I returned to my cottage to find Seraphina standing outside, directing two pack servants who were tossing my few belongings into the mud.

Lucian stood beside her, his arms crossed. "Seraphina will be moving into the Alpha's house, as is her right as my Luna," he said, his voice devoid of any emotion. "This cottage is being demolished. We're building a new training ground here."

My world shrank to the scene before me. My worn blankets, my collection of river stones, my life, thrown out like garbage. I pushed past them and ran into the cottage.

The small wooden box my parents had left me-their only legacy-lay half-buried in a puddle. It was carved with the crescent moon of our family totem. I fell to my knees, my hands shaking as I wiped the mud from its surface.

On the wall, the detailed maps of the territory I had spent years drawing by hand, maps that had helped our warriors win three skirmishes against Rogue packs, had been torn to shreds. In their place hung the ostentatious banner of the Vex family crest.

Seraphina glided in behind me, a smug smile on her face. "As the mother of the future Alpha," she said, placing a hand on her flat stomach, "I need to ensure my child is raised in a... pure environment. We must clear out anything that is unclean."

Her eyes met mine, glittering with triumph. She was erasing me.

I looked at Lucian, my heart a stone in my chest, pleading with my eyes for him to stop this.

He just hardened his jaw. "Do not challenge your Luna's authority, Elara."

That was the last straw. The final, brittle piece of my heart that still held out for him, shattered into dust.